Ellsworth Antiques Show raises $10,000 for museum

ELLSWORTH – Betsy Dubay wasn’t looking for anything in particular on Saturday as she studied the 26 tables at the Ellsworth Antiques Show.

But when she came across the display of the Philadelphia Print Shop and saw an early 20th century map that detailed in varying colors all of Maine’s cities and townships, she had to have it.

“This would look so great at our camp. What a conversation piece,” said the New Yorker and summer resident of Northeast Harbor.

Dubay was one of more than 1,500 antiques enthusiasts who visited the Ellsworth Antique Show on Thursday, Friday or Saturday on the lawn of the Woodlawn Museum.

This marked the return to Ellsworth of the nation’s longest-running private antiques exhibition after eight years at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill.

Many were happy to see the display back in the city for which it’s named, especially Woodlawn Museum Executive Director Joshua Torrance, who hosted the show for the first of what he hopes becomes many years.

“We feel like this is a great spot, obviously for the museum, but also for its proximity to downtown Ellsworth,” Torrance said Saturday. “I tried to go out to dinner last night [Friday] and two restaurants that I tried were booked solid, which is great for the city.”

The 26 dealers, nine of whom were from Maine, set up shop underneath an 11,000-square-foot tent on Woodlawn Museum’s lawn.

From old maps to 19th century cherry furniture to leather-bound rare books hiding faded, brittle paper, there was something for everyone at the antiques show. As long as people were willing to go deep into their checkbooks, that is.

“Antiques aren’t an everyday purchase, but you have to be willing to splurge once in awhile,” Dubay said.

She didn’t divulge how much she paid but similar maps were listed in the $300 range. Many items, like a 1790 chest of four drawers from R.M. Worth Antiques of Chadds Ford, Pa., for instance, reached well into the thousands.

Donald Cresswell, co-owner of the Philadelphia Print Shop and a frequent guest on the popular public television program “Antiques Roadshow,” said the show was a success.

“People seem to like the maps, and I brought as many local items as I could find,” said Cresswell, who has been a part of the Ellsworth Antiques Show for a decade.

“I love it up here,” he said, adding that he stays with friends in the area each summer he comes to Maine. “I try to take in as much of the local scene as possible.”

Martin Ferrick, an antiques dealer from Addison, participated in the show for the first year, but said he knew many of the dealers from other shows.

“Antiques is a small community,” he said.

The show, now in its 68th year, is owned and operated by the association of dealers, who profit from their sales, but all the proceeds from the ticket sales benefited the museum, which is the historic former home of Col. John Black, a War of 1812 hero.

Based on ticket prices, Woodlawn Museum earned more than $10,000.

“It’s great to be able to support such a great facility like Woodlawn,” Cresswell said. “Most of us in the antiques association agree that it’s a wonderful destination.”